A manatee was also was reported near Tiki Village on the other side of West Galveston Bay, Whitehead said, but there is no way of knowing for sure whether it was the same manatee.

"We may be dealing with multiple manatees," she said.

The manatee sighted in Galveston swam back and forth in the canal and eventually appeared to be trying to get away from a growing crowd as it swam toward Offatts Bayou, which opens into West Galveston Bay. The manatee had disappeared by 6 p.m.

"The network has recovered less than 10 manatees since 1980, but sightings and occurrences have become more frequent over the last five years or so," Whitehead said. The Stranding Network captured and relocated back to Florida a cold-stressed manatee in 2007.

Whitehead said she hoped the manatee sighted Friday would finds its way back to Florida before cold weather sets in on the Upper Texas Gulf Coast.

Manatees are concentrated in Florida during the winter, according to the Save the Manatee Club. While they migrate as far as Texas and Massachusetts during the summer, they are more commonly seen in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.

The manatee is a large, slow-moving gray marine mammal with a large, flat paddle-shaped tail. The average adult is about 10 feet long and weighs 1,000 pounds. They are found in shallow estuaries, bays, canals and coastal areas where there is a seagrass bed or food source.

Manatee sightings should be reported to the Stranding Network at 800-9-MAMMAL as soon as possible.